CARIBBEAN ROUNDUP
Antigua
Regional carrier, LIAT, will be extending
the temporary lay-offs of pilots for
three months.
In a letter to the pilots from the
Human Resource Manager, Samantha
May Francis, she attributed the decision
to the “chronic fiscal turbulence
experienced by the regional airline,
now made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic.”
She said that
throughout the
COVID-19 pandemic,
the airline has operated
limited services, but
this was not enough to
cover the company’s costs.
However, LIAT assured employees
they would continue to receive medical
insurance coverage and staff travel
privileges during this period.
Concerning commercial passenger
services, earlier this month, the airline’s
Chief Executive Officer, Julie Reifer
Jones said those services will remain
suspended until June 30.
Barbados
Barbados Prime Minister, Mia Mottley
said that the Caribbean Community
(CARICOM) grouping is vulnerable to
the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-
19) and has appealed for a truly global
response to the pandemic.
Mottley, who is also chairman of
the 15-member regional integration
grouping, in addressing the extraordinary
Inter-Sessional Summit of the
Organization of African, Caribbean and
Pacific States (OACPS) renewed her call
for multilateralism and a global leadership
initiative that brings together not
just governments, but other people
of influence, insisting
that it is the behavior
of individuals that has
to change.
The one-day virtual
meeting was held under the theme
“Transcending the COVID-19: Building
Resilience through Global Solidarity”
and consisted of dialogue by the
heads of state and governments of the
OACPs.
The summit was based on three pillars,
namely: “building resilience; keeping
economies functioning and rebooting
for strong recovery: and boosting
global solidarity and deepening partnerships.”
Mottley told the summit that “the
recovery of economic growth and jobs
in one country cannot be achieved
without recovery or economic growth
in other countries that provide either
the goods or alternatively purchase the
goods.”
Caribbean
The annual July Caribbean Community
Caribbean L 4 ife, June 26-July 2, 2020
Updated daily at www.caribbeanlifenews.com
Barbados’ Prime Minister Mia Mottley speaks during the 2019 United Nations Climate Action Summit at U.N. headquarters in New
York City, New York, U.S., Sept. 23, 2019. REUTERS / Carlo Allegri, File
(CARICOM) leaders’ summit
has been postponed to later this year
because of the effect of the coronavirus
(COVID-19) that have severely affected
regional countries.
A virtual meeting was carded for
July 3 when Barbados Prime Minister,
Mia Mottely would have handed over
the chairmanship of the 15-member
grouping to St. Vincent and the Grenadines
Prime Minister, Dr. Ralph Gonsalves
for the next six months.
The regional leaders are likely to
meet in St. Vincent,
the venue of the July
summit, on Sept. 2
and 3 for a “face-toface”
meeting of the
grouping.
Many Caribbean countries are now
emerging from a virtual lockdown of
their borders and economies as they
implement measures to prevent the
spread of the virus that has so far killed
432,000 people and infected eight million
others worldwide since it was first
detected in China last December.
CARICOM countries have reported
in excess of 6,000 positive cases of
the virus, with Haiti, moving closer
to 4,500 and Jamaica 621, among the
regional countries with the most cases.
The number of people killed by the
virus is in excess of 100, with Haiti registering
the highest, 76.
Grenada
A former adviser to Prime Minister,
Dr. Keith Mitchell has been slapped
with two counts of sexual assault and
two counts of indecent assault.
Cletus St. Paul, 63, was placed on
EC$20,000 bail when
he appeared in court
recently.
He is accused
of committing the
offences against the
woman, in her 30s, in November last
year when she sought assistance on a
housing matter for the state.
St. Paul also served as the chief bodyguard
to assassinated Prime Minister,
Maurice Bishop during the 1979-83
Grenada Revolution. He is an adviser in
the Ministry of National Security.
Police have also charged one of their
colleagues with the offences of rape and
indecent assault.
The offences are alleged to have
committed between Dec. 17, 2018 and
Jan. 4 last year. He has since been suspended
from active duty.
In Grenada, the maximum penalty
for sexual assault is 14 years in jail
while rape carries a maximum of 30
years imprisonment.
Jamaica
Jamaica said the coronavirus
(COVID-19) pandemic has reversed
the “hard-earned gains of sustainable
development” and appealed to the
Organization of African, Caribbean and
Pacific States (OACPS) to mount a
campaign to assist developing countries
gain access to emergency liquidity
support.
Addressing the one-day virtual
extraordinary Inter-Sessional Summit
of the OCAP on transcending the
coronavirus pandemic, Prime Minister
Andrew Holness said that Jamaica
and other Caribbean Forum (Cariforum)
states have experienced devastating
impact in multiple
areas, including
health, education,
culture, trade and
finance.
He said the mainstay of most Caribbean
economies, namely agriculture
and tourism, “were hardest hit
by a staggering fallout in revenue and
employment” and that “these experiences
are certainly echoed across the
OACP states.”
“This global crisis is a resounding
call to action, but nothing less than a
comprehensive revision of the system
of global economic governance that
will promote sustainable development
even in the face of a pandemic,” Holness
said.
He said regional corporation can help
in the societies adjusting to the “new
normal that we must now embrace.”
Trinidad
Trinidad and Tobago is to receive
Continued on Page 14
THE NEWS FROM BACK HOME
B’dos PM appeals for global COVID-19 response
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